The opportunities for product innovation arising from this new legislation combined with protection of consumer interest in respect of controlling misleading advertising, while at the same time promoting public health, are noteworthy. But such opportunities needed to be evaluated against the burden on industry to undertake significant research activity into these claims and to present a scientific

substantiation to satisfy the procedure for approval.

The EU-funded REDICLAIM project considered these issues in relation to 'reduction of disease risk' claims. As the project comes to an end, this webinar will present the project findings and give you the opportunity to ask questions of our expert speakers.

The session will include:

An introduction to the REDICLAIM project

Ensuring successful health claim applications

Health claims as promoters of new innovative food products?

The NHCR and issues with the regulatory framework

Modelling to predict the health and economic impact of 'reduction in disease risk claims'

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

How to Join our mailing list:
Please sign up here to receive email updates about the publication of the REDICLAIM project recommendations and further papers, reports and presentations: http://eepurl.com/cGHCc1

Please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone who you feel might be interested in the webinar.

With best wishes, Monique
"Designing Law for Nutrition-Related Health" workshop, 8-9 June 2015

We invite you to participate in our upcoming: "Designing Law for Nutrition-Related Health" workshop

This multi-disciplinary workshop seeks to initiate the development of a model which can improve regulatory design for nutrition and health needs in food law. It will bring together academics, practitioners and policy-makers from a range of disciplines and locations to explore whether and how public health nutrition research can inform better the design and implementation of European Union (EU) food law. Contributing disciplines will be social sciences, public health nutrition, business studies and law. Much has been written on different styles of regulation but there is very little work which seeks to develop a theoretical approach to integrating scientific research into the design and implementation of regulation in the context of nutrition and health.

The operation of much regulatory law is frequently described as a barrier to innovation and development. This is arguably because it often fails to incorporate domain specific knowledge, e.g. in the area of food and health, into the design stage of regulation. This workshop will seek to initiate the development of a regulatory design model in respect of food law so as to promote public health, taking account of the interdisciplinary approach necessary to design good regulation.

Dates: 8-9 June 2015Location: University of Surrey, Guildford, UKDetails: http://www.ias.surrey.ac.uk/workshops/nutrition/index.phpDeadline for submitting abstracts: 11 May 2015Fee: £80 (£30 for PhD students). The registration fee includes workshop materials and refreshments and lunch on both days.

WORKSHOP FORMAT

Three themed sessions each with a keynote speaker and 2-3 shorter related presentations (sourced from contributors responding to an open call) followed by chaired round table discussions focussing on key workshop themes, including a final session which will integrate the theme discussions.

THEMES

Styles of regulation for nutrition and health
Designing effective regulation is of primary concern in achieving the public health objective. Whether the law is risk-based, prohibitory, procedural or reflexive are all questions which need to be considered in relation to the particular form of law which is adopted and its ability to achieve the public health objective which is its purpose. Much legislation in the food arena is reactive and, in relation to the EU, is increasingly emerging in the form of Regulations which are directly applicable and leave no discretion to Member States. Concern to ensure harmonisation at the highest level in the face of increasing threats relating to the safety of food is leading to this result. But is that reactive approach the most effective way to design legislation which is aimed at promoting public health? This session will reflect on whether the current legislation adequately supports public health nutrition. Round table discussions will focus on the following questions:

Does food law support the drive for public health?

What models of enforcement are appropriate in the food supply chain to drive nutrition and health?

How much flexibility is generally desirable in the framework legislation?

Domain-specific science underpinning nutrition-related legislation
Within the fields of food and nutrition, research abounds across scientific, technical and behavioural areas but this leaves the question as to how effectively such research is being incorporated into legislation in terms of its design and style. Further, lack of scientific consensus is not operating as a barrier to legislation and the precautionary principle is frequently invoked as a legitimate and ethical basis for new EU Regulations.

This session will reflect on the link between public health nutrition research and the associated legislation. Round table discussions will focus on questions such as:

To what extent is public health nutrition research being taken into account in the drafting of law?

Where scientific knowledge is developing how can food and health legislation keep up with such change so as to drive the latest learning on nutritional and health needs?

How much flexibility should be left to decision-makers at national, regional or local level, e.g. due to different cultures, populations, needs, levels of protection etc.?

Which risk assessors play/should play the key role, e.g. industry's scientists, national competent authorities or EFSA?

How should the precautionary principle be incorporated and implemented?

Behavioural aspects for nutrition and health
The process whereby people make decisions about their choices of food represents a complex decision-making process and behavioural sciences are increasingly important in determining the framework for this cognitive process. Examples of the abundance of scientific research include, for example, the impact of behavioural patterns around nutrition on health, quality of life and longevity. Behavioural research is extensive and shows that individuals may not function in predictable and rational ways. With legislation increasingly used as the main driver for influencing human behaviour in respect of the food choices they make it becomes imperative to examine the efficacy of different approaches to regulation to achieve good public health outcomes. This session will reflect on what the behavioural sciences offer legislators developing food law that promotes nutrition and health. Round table discussions will focus on:

What role should self-regulation, voluntary codes and other alternatives to 'command control' approaches play?

How can the law give flesh to this developing work on behaviour patterning?

How can the law promote behavioural choices for health without becoming the nanny state and limiting individual freedoms?

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING ABSTRACTS AND/OR ATTENDING WORKSHOP

Contributions are welcomed from a wide range of disciplines, and from both academics and practitioners. Individual contributions will be around 10 – 15 minutes, and potential contributors should send a 250 word abstract by using the submission form below by 11 May 2015. Attendance will be confirmed by 18 May 2015.

The number of participants in the workshop will be strictly limited to facilitate creative discussion, and there is an attendance fee payable by speakers and attendees of £80 (£30 for PhD students). The registration fee includes workshop materials and refreshments and lunch on both days.

3 March 2015: Joining the debate: "Is there any Future in Satiety-based Health Claims?"

Project partners met in Budapest for their 4th consortium meeting. One of the highlights of the meeting was Amanda Cleary's (University of Surrey) presentation on her work mapping the regulatory framework and decision-making processes at EU level. Liisa Lähteenmäki (Aarhus University) presented results from the desk research on the role of EU-funded research on substantiating risk reduction and new evidence based claims.

4 September 2014: First peer-reviewed paper published with support from rediclaim

Živa Korošec and Igor Pravst of the Nutrition Institute in Slovenia published a paper entitled "Assessing the Average Sodium Content of Prepacked Foods with Nutrition Declarations: The Importance of Sales Data" in the journal Nutrients. The primary objective was to test a new approach for assessing the sales-weighted average sodium content of pre-packed foods on the market. They show that a combination of 12-month food sales data provided by food retailers covering the majority of the national market and a comprehensive food composition database compiled using food labelling data represent a robust and cost-effective approach to assessing the sales-weighted average sodium content of pre-packed foods. Food categories with the highest sodium content were processed meats (particularly dry cured meat), ready meals (especially frozen pizza) and cheese. The results show that in most investigated food categories, market leaders in the Slovenian market have lower sodium contents than the category average. The proposed method represents an excellent tool for monitoring sodium content in the food supply. Analyses of the use of salt-related claims on foods on the market showed that only 1% of the investigated food products (whole sample) were labelled with sodium-related nutrition claims, and no sodium-related health claims were found. The sodium-related claims most frequently observed were low sodium and no added sodium, mainly found on products in the category of breakfast cereals.

3 June 2014: Rediclaim presentation @ the "Labelling of foods and food supplements – are we ready for changes?" conference

Igor Pravst presented rediclaim at the conference "Labelling of foods and food supplements – are we ready for changes?" held on the 3rd of June 2014 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The conference brought together policymakers, competent authorities, food and ingredient manufacturers and NGOs to gain in-depth insights into the food labelling regulation and its implementation; examine the future of the EU's food labelling plans and how they will influence business; share the experiences; and learn about consumers' expectations of food labelling.

26-27 May 2014: Rediclaim presentation @ TAIEX Workshop on nutrition and health claims made on foods

Igor Pravst presented rediclaim at the TAIEX Workshop on nutrition and health claims made on foods in Skopje, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 26 to 27 May 2014. TAIEX is the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument managed by the Directorate-General Enlargement of the European Commission. TAIEX supports partner countries with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation.

4-5 November 2013: Rediclaim consortium kick-off meeting

Project partners met at the University of Surrey to embark on the programme of work. Discussions focussed on the development of the protocols for the different strands of work.